"Takin' Twenty" with the Virginian Brethren by Skip Salmon

[NW Mailing List]

Last night I had the pleasure of "Takin' Twenty" with eight of the Brethren
and Friends of the Virginian Railway. Even though summer officially starts on
Saturday, we felt the "mid-summer" wrath of the heat last night when
Country Cookin's air conditioning was taxed to the max.  Raymond East said
it "felt like the cab of ole number 4 during the winter"....


I told the Brethren about a good friend of mine, who has a farm beside the
old VGN near Kumis, recently finding a piece of  pantograph wire sticking
out of a bank near where he keeps his long horn bull.  A week from Saturday,
Lord willing, this historical copper artifact will be sitting in front of
Greely Wyatt, former Electric Foreman in Mullens, along with an insulator
from nearby Layfayette, and a "Danger 88,000 Volts" sign.  Greely has
promised to tell about these precious parts of the VGN electrification to
those who tour our Station from the N & W Historical Society Convention.
 If all goes as planned, eight of the Brethren will be on hand during the
tour with various VGN items to start conversations with the conventioneers.
 I told the Brethren about some of you coming to "Take Twenty" with us next
week on your way to the Convention and they are anxious to see you.


For Show and Tell I took a photo from Railpictures.net showing the new very
long, three axle trailers now being tested by RoadRailer on NS.  As far as
I know the VGN had no such, or even had piggy back service.  I have an HO
model of a VGN piggy back but I think it falls in the "What If" category.


I passed on to the Brethren an email from our Good Friend of the Virginian
Doug Bess, about his copy of the 1906 Deepwater Railway/Tidewater Railway
rule book passed down from his mother.  It belonged to his grandfather who
worked out of Page.  It has a letter on the back noting a change in one of
the rules.  The letter is dated 1916 with the Virginian name on the
letterhead.


The Jewel from the Past, like one in a Peoria Watch Company "For Railway
Service" 15 jewel duber case with Roman numerals is from December 13, 2007:
 "Also passed around was the historical program for the 'Roanoke Diamond
Jubilee, 75 years of Magical Growth 1882-1957'.  On page 88 is an ad for
the Virginian Railway 'History is Made at Night...and through the daytime,
too'.  On the next page is a paragraph about the VGN' presence in Roanoke.
 It told of how the VGN had experienced trouble getting through Roanoke and
thought they would have to buy land north of town.  It goes on to say
'However, with assurance by local businessmen the cost of land within the
city limits would not be over $50,000, the road was built along the Roanoke
River though town from one end to the other".


The winner of last week's Andy Griffith question is Clifford Orange of
Blacksburg, VA.  I got a lot of guesses like West Orange, NJ; New York
City; and Raleigh.  Clifford identified Richmond as the city where National
Records is based.  For this week's pin "How many pairs of socks does Opie
take on his overnight trip with the Boy Scouts?  Send answer along with
your mailing address to gkholine at cox.net.


Then there's this:  A Pastor goes to the dentist for a set of false teeth.
 The first Sunday after he gets his new teeth, he talks for only eight
minutes.  The second Sunday, he talks for only ten minutes.  The following
Sunday, he talks for over two hours.  The congregation had to mob him, to
get him down from the pulpit and asked him what happened.  The pastor
explains the first Sunday his gums hurt so bad he couldn't talk for more
than eight minutes.  The second Sunday his gums hurt too much to talk for
more than ten minutes.  But, the third Sunday, he put his wife's teeth in
by mistake and he couldn't shut up.


Time to pull the pin on this one!


Departing Now from V248,


Skip Salmon


DXXI








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